Chapter 62: Five Live Streams

Shi Shen and the logistics team returned with lunch, only to find Xie Sui hard at work moving the production crew members who were lying scattered across the courtyard.

They didn’t dare ask what had happened, silently setting the food aside before stepping in to help.

The Producer, who had hidden in his room earlier, emerged once he heard the commotion outside die down.

Feeling a twinge of guilt, the Producer helped Xie Sui carry the unconscious staff. After all, this had started because of him; he hadn’t expected Wen Yue to become so enraged over being unable to go live.

Given her status, Wen Yue’s position as a top-tier star was unshakable regardless of whether she streamed or not. This bit of exposure should have been entirely optional for her.

The Producer let out a weary sigh.

He had been careless. He forgot that Wen Yue had formed a grudge against Xie Sui during the show’s first live stream. It was no wonder she flew into such a rage upon learning that Xie Sui would be handling all future broadcasts for the crew.

He couldn’t let the two of them clash again, otherwise…

The Producer looked at the staff members strewn across the ground, the worry on his face deepening.

Otherwise, it was a toss-up whether any of them would make it out of this village alive.

The Producer mistakenly assumed that Xie Sui had lost his temper and ordered the ghosts following him to knock out the staff, then used a ghost possession trick to force Wen Yue to stay quiet and return to her room… though, ignoring the process and looking only at the result, his guess was actually correct.

In short, the Producer had never regretted anything as much as he did now.

He should never have agreed to that dinner with the investor in the first place. If he hadn’t gone to that dinner, he wouldn’t have known about Shao’s Restaurant. If he hadn’t gone to Shao’s Restaurant, he wouldn’t have known about this isolated, eerie little village. And if he hadn’t chosen this village as the filming location for the variety show, he wouldn’t be forced to stay here with a terrifying existence like Xie Sui, with nowhere to run…

The Producer wiped a mixture of sweat and tears from his face and continued his efforts to move his employees.

Filming the variety show was definitely out of the question for today; he would have to see if they could manage tomorrow. He only hoped Xie Sui would show some mercy and let them leave once the show was finished.

While the Producer and the directing team were busy acting as porters, they had no time to check their phones. During this interval, the trending topics on social media platforms had shifted once again.

#Murder Case Exposed During Variety Show Teaser#, #Kung Fu Star Attacks Wildlife#, and #Supernatural Variety Show Really Supernatural#—the hashtags he had worked so hard to suppress—were showing signs of a slow resurgence.

More lethally, a brand-new hashtag related to the crew had popped up on the trending list: #This Is Your Goddess’s True Face#

The moment this topic appeared, it surged to the number one spot with unstoppable momentum. It didn’t even need marketing; the heat of the discussion surpassed all other topics.

This was because the user who posted the topic had uploaded a video related to Wen Yue.

Liu Wuyong sat cross-legged on his bed, staring expressionlessly at his computer screen.

In this pitch-black room where the curtains were tightly drawn, the only light source was the glow from the monitor. The ghostly blue light hit Old Liu’s face, making him look like a mastermind villain pulling strings from behind the scenes.

Although Liu Wuyong considered himself a “salted fish” with no ambitions, he wasn’t entirely without a temper.

He had witnessed the confrontation between Xie Sui and Wen Yue in the courtyard.

Liu Wuyong hadn’t had a good impression of Wen Yue since they encountered the zombies in Jiangjia Village.

First, the live stream room was reported by Wen Yue’s fans, resulting in Xie Sui’s account being inexplicably banned for three days. Then, he had been slapped by Wen Yue, and the four bloody scratches her nails had left on his face were still there.

Liu Wuyong didn’t care about being disfigured; he didn’t rely on his face for a living anyway.

What angered him was Wen Yue manipulating the staff to attack Xie Sui, and then Xie Sui letting her off so easily, allowing her to return to her room.

Liu Wuyong simply couldn’t stand seeing Xie Sui get the short end of the stick. A boss as good as Xie Sui was rare in this world. Slapping his boss’s face—how was that any different from slapping his own? In fact, Old Liu felt worse than if he had been the one hit.

Wen Yue wasn’t one of those mindless ghosts or monsters, so why let her off? Judging by her vicious expression earlier, she looked like she wanted to kill Xie Sui—if Xie Sui had truly been a defenseless ordinary person, he would be in grave danger by now.

She had a beautiful face, yet she committed nothing but wicked acts.

He didn’t know what Xie Sui was thinking, but Liu Wuyong couldn’t stomach this woman who acted one way to people’s faces and another behind their backs.

Xie Sui had saved him so many times; it was finally time for him to help his boss vent some frustration.

Liu Wuyong’s profession was video editing. He had captured Wen Yue’s irrational rage earlier, and then “borrowed” footage of the journey from the incapacitated camera crew. With a quick series of edits, he nimbly produced a “guichu¹” style parody video, tagged it, and threw it onto social media.

Hadn’t she always marketed herself as a beautiful and kind goddess? Today, he would let her fans see what kind of monster she was in private.

When editing the video, Liu Wuyong deliberately blurred the surroundings, omitting Xie Sui and other irrelevant people to focus entirely on Wen Yue’s face.

There was her arrogant face as she ordered the crew around like slaves, her unreasonable and spoiled behavior, and the murderous, venomous look on her face when she confronted Xie Sui.

There was rarely any dirt on Wen Yue online; even if some appeared, it was quickly shut down by her crazed fans.

Therefore, the sudden emergence of a compilation of Wen Yue’s scandals caused both passersby and fans to swarm in.

Furthermore, perhaps due to the influence of the Fox Immortal by Xie Sui’s side, while Wen Yue’s fans still saw her as glamorous as ever in the video, ordinary bystanders saw something else. They saw an average-looking girl with a beast-head tattoo on her left cheek… and this girl’s originally delicate features looked hideously distorted under the combination of the tattoo and her own furious expression.

Beneath this short video of less than a minute, Wen Yue’s fans and the general public were locked in a fierce, irreconcilable argument.

[Malicious editing, hope you die]

[Heh, so what if our sister has a bad personality? A beauty deserves to be forgiven no matter what she does.]

[Reported. Screenshots and screen recordings taken for evidence. Maliciously spreading rumors to smear our sister and infringing on her portrait rights²—wait for the lawsuit.]

[Holy crap, is this what Wen Yue actually looks like? I suggest this sister’s fans go get their eyes checked. Stop claiming she outshines everyone; the entertainment industry is truly finished.]

[I’m more curious about how she ended up like this… judging by the fans’ reactions, the woman in the video really seems to be Wen Yue.]

Although the video was quickly taken down after being reported by Wen Yue’s fans, and her team had urgently managed the public relations to remove the trending topics, it was already too late.

The topic #Wen Yue’s Face# hit the number one spot on the trending list, and in its wake, it pushed the supernatural variety show she was filming back into the spotlight.

Today, the entire entertainment section of social media was dominated by topics related to Yayun Entertainment’s yet-to-be-aired supernatural variety show.

Back in the house, the Producer looked at the 99+ message notifications on his phone, sweating profusely with anxiety. Although “black-and-red³” was still a form of popularity, the current heat was too high; he was truly afraid of the traffic backfiring.

There was no time now to obsess over which staff member had posted the video of Wen Yue. He had to find a way to suppress this matter.

The Producer gritted his teeth and rushed out of the room, stopping Xie Sui just as he was about to leave the courtyard.

“Mr. Xie, do you have some time later? Could you start a livestream?” The Producer felt very lucky now. Fortunately, he hadn’t said the words “no more livestreams” earlier, otherwise he wouldn’t know what excuse to use to get Xie Sui to broadcast.

The best way to get netizens to stop paying attention to one hot topic was to create a new one… He believed in Xie Sui’s strength. This big shot was covered in ghosts; just pulling one out to “accidentally” enter the frame would easily create a new topic.

When netizens asked, the production team would simply insist it was holographic projection and green-screen special effects.

Using this kind of half-true, half-fake supernatural livestream to stir up hype was much better than using Wen Yue’s scandalous material, which was like a ticking time bomb. The Producer was truly terrified of that woman’s fans, who spent all day frantically reporting people online.

If they allowed trending topics that negatively impacted the production team to continue dominating the charts, it wasn’t just a matter of offending the person behind Wen Yue—if the noise continued, it was uncertain whether the variety show could even be broadcast.

Faced with the Producer’s request for a livestream, Xie Sui agreed immediately without a second thought.

After all, he had already taken the initiative to handle the production team’s livestreaming tasks earlier. Since he was about to head out for a walk anyway, livestreaming was just a matter of convenience.

The production team’s original plan was to have five hours of livestreaming every day during filming—five guests livestreaming for one hour each.

Because Su Caichuan was a friend of the Producer, had no professional social media accounts, and lacked influence as a civilian, he had been excluded.

Shi Shen had already livestreamed today, and the promotional slots for the other guests had not been used yet.

After Xie Sui agreed, the Producer immediately notified the directing team to redirect the promotional resources meant for the other guests to Xie Sui’s account.

When Xie Sui was scrolling through his phone earlier, he had also seen the trending scandal about Wen Yue. Because the uploader had used various effects and blurs to obscure the background, it was impossible to tell from the video that it was filmed in the village. Therefore, Xie Sui hadn’t paid it much mind.

This situation wouldn’t alert the evil cultivators of the Wuqi Sect. At most, they would think the incident was caused by the unstable power of the Fox Immortal on Wen Yue’s body, rather than connecting it to something happening at the Wuqi Sect’s stronghold.

Putting away his phone, Xie Sui looked at Shi Shen standing beside him.

Earlier, after moving the fainted staff members into the house, Xie Sui had mentioned to Shi Shen that he “hoped he could accompany him for a walk around the village.”

He had also explained clearly to Shi Shen that he intended to use him to attract the attention of those human-faced, snake-bodied monsters.

Unsurprisingly, Shi Shen had agreed quite readily. He didn’t hesitate at all, and there was no trace of fear on his face.

This made Xie Sui feel a bit of a guilty conscience… like he was bullying an honest man.

Xie Sui wasn’t in a great hurry. Since the staff members wandering outside had all returned, he waited for Shi Shen and the others to finish lunch before leading Shi Shen out of the courtyard.

The village roads were mostly dirt, though some areas were paved with stone slabs. The closer they got to the Daoist temple in the center of the village, the smoother the stone slabs became.

As Xie Sui walked through the village, he encountered many villagers. The numb expressions on their faces had vanished. They were briskly cleaning up the bloodstains and severed limbs in their courtyards, their eyes filled with hope for a new life.

The little girl who had been forced into the ghost marriage was now living in the home of the twin girls, cared for by their mother. Her face now showed some signs of life.

Every villager who saw Xie Sui rushed forward to express their gratitude.

Looking at these jubilant villagers, Xie Sui felt a bit of a lump in his throat. Humans were remarkably resilient; no matter how terrible the setbacks, they could stubbornly continue living. They wanted very little—as long as they could live in peace, they were satisfied.

Once this incident was over, he would have to ask Captain Yan to have the Inspectorate Bureau help relocate these villagers. He couldn’t stay in this village forever, and no one knew if those insane evil cultivators would seek revenge on these innocent villagers in the future.

Although Shi Shen didn’t know what had happened last night, the villagers’ gratitude toward Xie Sui was clearly genuine. His favorable impression of Xie Sui rose another notch.

Xie Sui first went to the house to the right of the Daoist temple mentioned by the prop team staff member.

As he expected, there was nothing inside the house except for the statue of the Wutong God. The human-faced, snake-bodied monster was nowhere to be found.

Xie Sui picked up the toolbox in front of the statue and placed it at the entrance of the house—the box was quite heavy, and he couldn’t very well carry it everywhere.

Once he dealt with that human-faced, snake-bodied monster, he would let the staff members come and retrieve it themselves.

There were essentially no living villagers near the Daoist temple. Those who lived close to it were the village elite, all of whom had blood on their hands and had committed countless atrocities. By last night, they had already been torn to shreds by the furious vengeful spirits.

Xie Sui patrolled the surrounding area. After confirming no other villagers were present, he started his livestream.

To successfully lure out those human-faced, snake-bodied monsters, Xie Sui had Shi Shen walk ahead of him, maintaining a certain distance between them.

Fearing that the situation in the village might be leaked, Xie Sui set the livestream to selfie mode, keeping the camera focused tightly on his own face.

“He’s here, he’s here! The streamer finally started! I’ve waited for you for exactly three days, two hours, twenty-eight minutes, and seven seconds. Do you know how much I’ve suffered during this time?”

“Streamer, why was your account banned for the last two days? You scared me, I thought you’d been hauled off to the station.”

“He was reported by the fans of a certain celebrity who shall not be named. Don’t mention her name, her rabid fans will probably report him again if they catch the scent.”

As soon as Xie Sui started the broadcast, several thousand people flooded the room. It seemed they had all come over from Shi Shen’s side and had been camping out waiting for Xie Sui.

“I just saw the streamer in Shi Shen’s livestream. Isn’t it time for an appraisal of some supernatural events?”

“What exactly were that hairy monster and the paper effigies? Streamer, did you eventually deal with that monster?”

“Duh, if he hadn’t dealt with it, the Supernatural Variety Show would be posting obituaries for the streamer and Shi Shen by now.”

“Streamer, the thing that appeared in Shi Shen’s livestream just now was a Shanxiao, right?”

Xie Sui glanced at the bullet chat. The most frequent questions were about the hairy monster Shi Shen had been beating up earlier.

Seeing the inquiries from the audience, Xie Sui instinctively replied, “It was a gorilla…”

Halfway through the sentence, Xie Sui suddenly remembered the hypersensitive Animal Protection Association members under the variety show’s official account. He quickly changed his tune: “It was a suit actor from the variety show crew.”

“I get it, I get it. So streamer, if a normal person encounters a gorilla suit actor in the mountains, are there any protective measures?”

“+1, it’s really terrifying. My company is going on a mountain climbing team-building trip next week. Us unhealthy office workers can’t exactly trade blows with a suit actor like Brother Shen. Please give us some advice, streamer.”

“Don’t worry, there are basically no Shanxiao… suit actors in mountains that have been developed into tourist attractions. Just do your prep work before climbing, don’t change your route on a whim, and remember the number for the local outdoor Rescue Team. If you encounter danger or get lost, call them, or call the Law Enforcement Team.”

At this point, Xie Sui paused. “If you’re truly uneasy, you can pick up a small stone before heading up the mountain and write the five characters ‘Taishan Shi Gandang⁴‘ on it with a red pen. If you encounter a scapegoat ghost or a wall-building ghost on the mountain, close your eyes, grip the stone tightly, and silently recite ‘Taishan Shi Gandang’ three times… The above is just a folklore story I’m telling. There are actually no ghosts in this world.”

“Ah, right, right, right, no ghosts in this world. So can any stone be used to write ‘Taishan Shi Gandang’?”

“I think it’s best to pick up a stone at the foot of the mountain. After all, this sounds like a mountain deity.”

“Any stone will do. Sincerity brings results. If the prayer in your heart is strong enough, Shi Gandang will protect you. Nothing on the mountain is foolish enough to try and snatch someone away from Him.”

Shi Gandang suppresses a hundred ghosts and crushes calamities… Since ancient times, Shi Gandang has been used to ward off evil, dispel disasters, and suppress malevolent energy. He is the gentlest and most hardworking of deities, requiring no offerings from humans. As long as the power of the prayer in one’s heart is strong enough, Shi Gandang will naturally protect the one who asks.

“Understood. Thanks, streamer. I’m going out in a bit to find a pretty stone to carry with me.”

“By the way, streamer, I saw your name on the promotional poster for that Supernatural Variety Show. Are you filming with Wen Yue right now? Do you know what’s going on with her face?”

“Are you crazy? You still dare mention that woman’s name? The streamer’s account was banned last time because of her.”

Xie Sui didn’t avoid the topic, replying directly, “I’m really not sure about that. It’s probably AI face-swapping. I’m not close with Wen Yue, and we haven’t had much contact during the filming of the variety show.”

Wen Yue was currently being controlled by the Fox Immortal and couldn’t possibly go online to say anything to contradict him. No matter what Xie Sui said, he held the power of explanation.

“Man, AI face-swapping, huh? Wen Yue’s face in the eyes of passersby is clearly different from how her crazy fans see her. Can technology really do that?”

“I think Wen Yue is possessed by a ghost… I mean, by holographic special effects. That’s why she looks so good. I used to be a fan, and I only saw her true appearance after I stopped following her.”

“Stop talking about her. Do you want the streamer to get banned again? Streamer, streamer, do you take offline fortune-telling… uh, I mean, do you do offline fan events? I’m not short on cash.”

“I’m not good at fortune-telling or divination, and I’ve been quite busy lately, so I won’t be holding fan events.” Xie Sui found this kind of casual chatting with the audience quite relaxing. He didn’t need to prepare a script or worry about the entertainment value of the stream.

While chatting with the viewers, Xie Sui kept an eye on Shi Shen walking ahead of him.

Suddenly, Shi Shen changed his route. He turned a corner and walked into a small alley.

Xie Sui quickly hurried to follow.

He was right on Shi Shen’s heels, but when Xie Sui entered the alley, he was shocked to find that Shi Shen, who should have been right in front of him, had vanished into thin air.

Xie Sui frowned. Ignoring the livestream chat, he stepped quickly into the alley to search for Shi Shen.

The alley wasn’t long, perhaps about fifty meters, but given Shi Shen’s speed, it was impossible for him to disappear in the blink of an eye just after entering.

On both sides of the alley were the high courtyard walls of the villagers’ houses. The shadows cast by the walls made the alley exceptionally dim. Miscellaneous items like jars and winnowing baskets were piled at the base of the walls, squeezing the already narrow space. A slightly larger person would have to turn sideways to pass through.

Logically, Shi Shen shouldn’t have turned into such a dark alley. Before coming out, Xie Sui had made it clear that their purpose was to find those human-faced, snake-bodied creatures. Shi Shen wouldn’t have proactively turned into a place that looked this dangerous. Something must have lured him in.

Xie Sui continued walking deeper into the alley. As he passed a water vat by the base of a wall, the winnowing basket covering the top shifted slightly. A snake tail with a complex pattern slithered out of the vat, cautiously sliding in the opposite direction of Xie Sui.

Then it was grabbed by a small hand.

The purple-skinned Ghost Infant appeared out of thin air in front of the snake tail. A cruel smile flickered at the corners of its mouth as it grabbed the tail and yanked it bodily out of the water vat.

A Human-headed Snake Monster was slammed violently onto the ground.

Just as the Ghost Infant’s killing intent flared, preparing to tear the human face off the monster, Xie Sui stopped it in time.

Xie Sui turned around and walked toward the Human-headed Snake Monster.

To prevent any bloody scenes unsuitable for minors from appearing next, Xie Sui specifically muted his livestream and placed his phone on a stone pedestal some distance away.

The livestream audience was largely accustomed to sudden situations in Xie Sui’s broadcasts, so none of them left. Using the narrow sliver of sky squeezed between the high walls of the alley as a backdrop, they began to entertain themselves by chatting in the bullet comments. Passersby who accidentally stumbled into the stream might have thought they had entered some kind of social chat channel.

Xie Sui walked over and crouched down in front of the monster.

Only the face of this monster was human; everything below the neck was the body of a massive python. Its upper body was about as thick as an adult human, and its total length was roughly three or four meters… and the patterns on its snake body were all in the shape of human faces, looking extremely eerie.

Xie Sui reached out and pinched the monster’s jaw, observing its face expressionlessly, like examining a piece of fat on a chopping block.

The face looked like a man in his forties, bald, with snake scales replacing hair. The corners of its mouth split back to the base of its ears like a snake’s maw. Its eyes were moist, and its golden serpentine pupils were filled with fear, looking as if it might burst into tears at any second.

Coming into close contact with the Human-headed Snake Monster, Xie Sui finally noticed something strange.

These Human-headed Snake Monsters didn’t seem to be monsters raised by Daoist Xiutian. The feeling they gave Xie Sui was actually… actually more like humans.

Xie Sui could sense the human Three Souls and Seven Po within it… its soul wasn’t forcibly fixed into this deformed body by a spell, but rather seemed innate.

Most importantly, Xie Sui could feel human Yang Energy from it. Although the Yin Energy on its body was very heavy, the faint Yang Energy mixed within it could not be ignored. The existence of this Yang Energy was proof that it lived as a human.

What kind of stitched-together monstrosity was this? Had Daoist Xiutian transformed humans into monsters?

Xie Sui slightly regretted not searching Daoist Xiutian’s memories before letting him die.

Last night, Xie Sui’s emotions had been somewhat out of control, and the killing intent in his heart was too heavy. He had directly allowed those vengeful spirits to tear Daoist Xiutian to pieces, leaving him currently knowing nothing about the state of the monsters in this village.

Xie Sui patted the face of the Human-headed Snake Monster. “Do you have any reason? Can you talk? Where is the man who entered the alley before me? Where did you take him?”

The Human-headed Snake Monster did not answer Xie Sui, only twisting its body frantically, trying to break free from the Ghost Infant’s grip.

Tsk, another one that can’t understand human speech.

Worried about Shi Shen’s safety, Xie Sui didn’t have the patience for a detailed interrogation.

Just as he was about to perform a direct soul search, another Human-headed Snake Monster slid down from the courtyard wall behind Xie Sui. Shi Shen was coiled in its tail.

Compared to the one under Xie Sui’s hand, the human face of this monster that slid down from the wall looked more human. It had hair and a beard, and there were almost no snake-like features on its face.

Judging solely by that face, this newly appeared Human-headed Snake Monster looked like an old man in his sixties. His hair and beard were white, and he looked somewhat refined. If he wore glasses and his snake body was covered, there would be no sense of mismatch in saying he was an elderly teacher.

Coincidentally, the place where this old man-faced Human-headed Snake Monster crawled down was right above the stone pedestal where Xie Sui had placed his phone.

Watching an old man’s face suddenly peek over the courtyard wall and appear in the livestream, the viewers who had been chatting happily all fell silent.

They watched as the old man’s head stretched longer and longer, watched as this monster with a snake body beneath its head blocked out the alley’s sky, appearing in the livestream frame in a massive close-up and getting closer and closer. They all subconsciously moved away from their phones and computers.

{Holy crap! What the hell is this human-headed snake thing?!}

{I was wondering why the streamer suddenly disappeared. Turns out he was preparing a big move 🙂 I knew it couldn’t be a simple casual chat stream.}

{Streamer, what other surprises do you have that I don’t know about…}

{The person coiled in that monster’s tail is Shi Shen, right?! Ahhh, is Brother Shen okay?! He looks unconscious!}

{Come, chant with me: everything is special effects from the production crew, just ask and they’ll say it’s a stunt actor. Don’t worry, with the streamer here, Stone will definitely be fine.}

Sensing the sound from behind, Xie Sui turned and looked at the monster crawling toward him with Shi Shen in tow.

Before Xie Sui could speak, the old man-faced Human-headed Snake Monster spoke first. “We are the Xuanyuan Clan. We do not wish to be your enemy. Please, let us go.”

Having said that, it lowered its body in an extremely humble attitude and used its tail to deliver the unconscious Shi Shen to Xie Sui’s feet.

Xie Sui hadn’t expected this old man-faced Human-headed Snake Monster to actually be capable of communication.

When it spoke, no forked snake tongue flicked out; it was a normal human tongue, which was likely why it could speak.

But the Xuanyuan Clan… thinking of Daoist Xiutian’s naming style, where even a giant Water Monkey dared to take the title of ‘Wuzhiqi’, Xie Sui couldn’t help but associate this with the Xuanyuan Clan recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Legend has it that the people of the Xuanyuan Kingdom all had human heads and snake bodies, and even the shortest-lived citizens could live to eight hundred years. The Xuanyuan Kingdom was one of the four long-lived nations recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The Wuqi Kingdom, the Wuqi Sect; the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool, the Golden Elixir of Immortality; the Xuanyuan Kingdom, the Xuanyuan Clan… these evil cultivators of the Wuqi Sect were truly driven mad by the desire for longevity, even going so far as to create a Xuanyuan Clan.

Xie Sui asked, “Are you monsters raised by Daoist Xiutian?”

“No.” The old man wagged his tail. “We were once peripheral followers of the Wuqi Sect. When we were tormented by illness and on the brink of death, we voluntarily sacrificed ourselves for the sect. It was all to help the sect perfect the Longevity Ritual. Although we were forced to abandon our human forms, and although I am the only one among the many sacrificed followers who possesses reason and retains memories of my time as a human, still—”

At this point, a look of pride appeared on the old man’s face, and even his snake tail straightened up. “But we survived! We successfully escaped incurable diseases. We have become a true long-lived race, achieving ‘longevity’ in another sense!”

His speech made Xie Sui feel somewhat uncomfortable.

This Longevity Ritual sounded like it forcibly transformed humans into monsters. Mythical long-lived races like those recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas could not possibly exist. The creature claimed it could live long, but there was no reason a dying person transformed into a monster would suddenly gain extra lifespan out of thin air.

The operation of any matter in the world requires energy; energy is neither created nor does it appear from nothing.

If this monster could live long, then someone else must have paid the price for its longevity.

Xie Sui looked at the proud old man before him and asked coldly, “Then what do you rely on to sustain your life now? Simply put, can you tell me what you usually eat?”

Seeing that Xie Sui hadn’t attacked him immediately, the old man relaxed considerably. He said with a chuckle, “We of the Xuanyuan Clan do not eat any human food, nor do we require raw meat or blood. We only consume morning dew and human lifespan. We won’t harm the villagers.”

Xie Sui thought he had misheard and subconsciously repeated, “Consume lifespan?”

The old man swayed his snake tail and promised solemnly, “Yes, we only consume morning dew and lifespan. Furthermore, we only take one year of life per feeding. We will take good care of the villagers and absolutely will not harm them. Please rest assured.”

Xie Sui almost laughed out of sheer anger.

How could he rest assured?

Did this mean the staff members who had fainted upon seeing these human-faced snake monsters had all lost a year of their lives for nothing?

Xie Sui suppressed the anger in his heart and continued to ask, “You feed on lifespan. Since you can extract it, you must also be able to transfer that extracted lifespan to others, right?”

Mistakenly thinking that Xie Sui had a good impression of him, the old man nodded with a smile. Seemingly wanting to boast to Xie Sui, he said loudly, “Exactly. We of the Xuanyuan Clan are the most important tools within the sect.”

He referred to himself directly as a “tool,” appearing quite proud of his ability to contribute to the sect.

“The currency of trade within our Wuqi Sect is lifespan, and the vital tasks of extracting and returning lifespan are all carried out by us. Although most of the Xuanyuan Clan lack reason and cannot think, they can still understand simple commands.”

“So that’s how it is.” Xie Sui nodded. “Then could I ask you for a favor? There is something I would like you to do for me.”

A flash of cunning crossed the old man’s eyes. He seemed to think that his ability to extract lifespan was very important to Xie Sui and wanted to use this opportunity to gain some leverage.

“Of course. It is my honor to serve a powerful person like you, however…”

Blood-colored Double Pupils slowly emerged in Xie Sui’s eyes. He looked at the human-faced snake man expressionlessly, his voice freezing cold. “You are in no position to make demands of me. I use polite language with you only because it is my personal habit, not so you can take advantage of it. Return the lifespan of the villagers and the staff, and I might leave you ‘Xuanyuan Clan’ members with intact corpses.”

“I don’t think you want to experience my beast-taming methods. After all, I’ve only ever trained dogs, never snakes.”

The author has something to say:

[Note 1] Selected from the Song Dynasty’s “Yudi Beimu Ji” (Records of Stele Catalogues).

It records: Zhang Wei, the magistrate of Putian County, Fujian Province, was repairing the county annals when a stone tablet was unearthed. It was inscribed with: “Shi Gandang, suppresses a hundred ghosts, crushes disasters, brings blessings to officials, health to the common people, prosperity to education, and flourishing of rites and music…” This is the earliest physical historical material of an unearthed Shi Gandang in China.

Translator’s Notes

• substitute ghost: In Chinese folklore, a ‘tǐsìguǐ’ (替死鬼) is the spirit of someone who died by accident or suicide. They are believed to be trapped in the mortal realm until they can cause someone else to die in the same manner to take their place.

• Tai Shan Shi Gan Dang: A stone tablet or talisman (泰山石敢当) placed to ward off evil spirits. Originating from Mount Tai, it is believed to harness the mountain’s spiritual power to suppress ghosts and disasters.